Linda Black

This is bassackward from every economics class I’ve ever taken (OK, I’ve only taken one economics class…but I’ve read several books).

The law ofsupply and demand is one of the most basic principles in economics. Basically it’s this, when an item is scarce, but many people want it, the price of that item will rise. Conversely, if there is a larger supply of an item than consumer demand warrants, the price will fall. ~ Investopedia

If you are in the retail, shipping, manufacturing, or selling business (that’s just about everybody) you will want to have a good understanding of this principle. With-holding the supply of certain goods or products will create a demand and thereby increase the price of that product. The trick is to make just enough of what the public wants so that the price will stabilize at a margin of greatest potential profit.

Here’s a question then…

How does one create the supply?

Haanel states in Masterkeys Lesson 20: 12-13:

“When you begin to perceive that the essence of the Universal is within yourself—is YOU—you begin to do things; you begin to feel your power; it is the fuel [SUPPLY] which fires the imagination; which lights the torch of inspiration; which gives vitality to thought; which enables you to connect with all the invisible forces of the Universe. It is this power which will enable you to plan fearlessly, to execute masterfully.”

In other words…We live the life we choose. Creating the right fuel, thought or internal picture of what we want is key to manifesting our dreams (supply). When we have this mental picture the DEMAND for action will follow. Hence, it is imperative that we give our dreams due diligence by thinking of the person we wish to become in order to fuel the demand for excellence in order to become that person.

It truly takes a hero to
walk in your own shoes. To meet your self at the crossroads of change and take the road less traveled takes courage, strength, and persistence. What I’m experiencing is that the old me, the one comfortable with status quo, is not going down without a fight. Procrastination, feelings of inadequacy, and my messy desk are staring at me as I write this blog. I just have to sigh and remind myself that I promised to move forward regardless of procrastination, feelings of inadequacy, and my unruly desk. I understand in theory how to overcome these forces. Get the BIG ROCKS done first! I even understand from experience as I’ve overcome these obstacles before. It seems that they are as persistent about sticking around as I am persistent about getting rid of them. So the battle goes.

In the fight for my right to an abundant life of living my dreams I have built an arsenal of tools:

Knowledge about how peptides work and how to make new neuro pathways that support me in my dreams.

Give more of what you want, get more of what you need

Service = Love = Growth

Seven Laws of the Mind

I am Nature’s Greatest Miracle

Focus in the SIT (Still In Thought)

Letting go of what I don’t want in order to have what I want

Master mind group that supports me in my quest

Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude – shout it from the roof tops!

And so many more insights during the MKMMA experience. This week we talked about the story of Jonah and the Whale. Jonah was a reluctant hero. He refused the call, and what did God do? He sent a Whale to swallow Jonah up so they could have a heart to heart chat. Jonah came out of that whale and went after his calling. His refusal at first is not unlike what each of us experience as we are called to live our dharma. We hide, run away, slink back into the comfort of the known. Yes, I’m guilty. It takes work, effort, and stepping outside of the known (aka trusting) to get after our dreams.

So I’m having a heart to heart with God. I’m letting go of the banana in the jar aka:

Who gives you permission to do what you do? I believe this is a question worth asking. As children this question may elicit a different response than when we are adults. As an adult we may take it for granted that we don’t need permission…or maybe we mistake approval from others AS permission to do or be something. We end up being or doing to please others instead of being and doing what our heart desires. That is not what permission is. Seeking approval outside ourselves gives away our power. We surrender our will to that of another.

Here’s why I LOVE this fabulous word…PERMISSION…

Introduced in week 17, Mark J. gave us a 30 second exercise to, out loud, give ourselves permission to do or be what was in our heart. Simple exercise. Profound effect. For some reason taking the time to give myself permission really felt freeing!

I began by saying out loud “I give myself permission to be happy!”

A smile crossed my lips.

“I give myself permission to be wonderful!”

Grinning with affirming tingles down my spine.

“Permission granted to be quirky and different and smile big, give hugs to strangers, dance in the living room, shout for joy, compliment a loved one, laugh out loud, be courageous!”

I finished with, “You have my permission to pursue your dreams, making the world a better place to live in!”

Whew! It was like coming out of the fog and being able to see clearly. Who knew? Such a simple exercise…30 seconds and BAM I’m out of the old blue print and into the new.

Life gets easier when we drop the conflict within ourselves…the constant excuse making that fights against our true happiness. Conflict that comes via the voices from the past…from my childhood and from others…shutting me down. That’s why I’m really in love with PERMISSION! There is no one telling me I can’t live my dream but me and my old blue print. HA! I’m giving myself permission to attract those people into my life who support working together with me on projects that are for the greater good. Because I give myself permission to enthusiastically pursue my dreams with laser focus I am supported at every turn!

Master Key 17:25 says…

“Remember that fundamentally the subconscious is omnipotent; there is no limit to the things that can be done when it is given the power to act. Your degree of success is determined by the nature of your desire. If the nature of your desire is in harmony with Natural Law or the Universal Mind, it will gradually emancipate the mind and give you invincible courage.”

Well bring on the courage because I’m giving my subby the power to act…

I feel like I’m my own Fairy God Mother….”Linda, I grant you permission to follow your heart’s desire without hesitation and with enthusiasm!” Sweet!

I clapped my hands when the virtues were introduced in week 15. Our assignment: to study and focus on one virtue a week for the next 13 weeks! Yippee! Seriously I feel as giddy as a school girl. This is one of my favorite subjects.

There are over 600 virtues found in the collective religious and sacred traditions of the world – according to Dan Popov PH.D., co-founder of The Virtues Project™. Dan and his wife Linda Popov discovered that virtues are at the heart of meaning in every culture and belief system, from indigenous oral traditions to the world’s Sacred texts. How about that for unity!

This week our MKMMA group was to be in harmony in looking for kindness in everyday people.

Time to RAK ‘em up! (RAK = Random Acts of Kindness).

What’s so powerful about kindness is that the giver gets as much out of the RAK as the receiver…sometimes more!

How do we incorporate these heart centered characteristics into our everyday?

In the master keys master mind alliance the practice of incorporating these virtues is simply this: watch, look, listen, open up, observe, and NOTICE when you see the practice of these virtues in yourself and others. What I found is that when I focused on kindness, for instance, I started seeing it everywhere…the cashier, the lawn care person, the mail man, even my husband. As soon as I acknowledged the kind acts (however small they seemed) in my husband, I felt light-hearted and my husband was all the more eager to lavish another kind act for my enjoyment. A testament once again that what we put our attention on we get more of.

I’ve heard it said that we are able to see virtues in others because we possess those virtues in ourselves. Looking for and acknowledging these qualities in others serves merely to solidify that virtue in ourselves.

I’m enjoying practicing the opposite – to choose to see people in their beauty, in the light of Christ, Buddha Nature, or whatever else you want to call it. Truth is, the more we choose to see virtues in others the more we will develop and see those characteristics in ourselves. This is certain to improve our tomorrows.

I am natures’s greatest miracle! It’s true, and so are you! So says Og Mandino in Scroll IV of “The Greatest Salesman”.

I am unique…just like everybody else.

Reminding myself of this truth, everyday, 3 times a day is the antidote for excuse making. I’ve made excuses my whole life. Excuses like…

“The reason I’m not famous like so and so is because I was born into a poorer household with little opportunity.”

“I don’t have time because I’m a busy mom.”

“I’m not wealthy because I don’t have the support I need.”

“I’ll try my hardest but I’ll never be the best because I have so many other interests competing for my time.”

“I can’t be as good as that person because he/she was lucky and had an easy life.”

Excuses, excuses! You get the picture. Even as I write these down they sound hollow and false…yet, I find myself entertaining these thoughts on more than one occasion a day.

Truth is, an excuse comes from a place of lack. it excuses us from being great – it’s the master of mediocracy. It is the outward comparison of ourselves to another’s gifts and talents and assuming that their talents were somehow easier to achieve than ours. We fall short every time. It makes us feel inferior and that our talent is not worth giving to others. A dangerous place to be in the world of an entrepreneur.

The opposite of making an excuse involves two things…

Acknowledging our uniqueness

Appreciating our circumstance

This is what Og Mandino writes about. Deciding to come from a place of strength and celebrate my own unique experience no matter how small or insignificant I may feel is the road to success. It leads me down a path of believing that I can and do have something to offer.

I got this aha moment in dance rehearsal last week. We were on the bar, as we are every week, doing pliés and tendus. I was thinking to myself, “this is so hard at age 52. I’m too old to be as good as these younger women.” I caught myself mid-sentence and realized I was selling out to lack! Yikes! and Yuck! A huge aha moment for me. Something inside me said,

“You love dance! Just do it and go full out!”

I did. My spine straightened. I felt my core tighten. I gave myself permission to go full effort – and you know what happened? It was FUN! I felt FREE! I danced better than I thought I could. At that moment I felt a responsibility to myself and to the dance company to treat this moment like a performance. Then these words came to mind…

That which we practice often we perform amazingly.

The lesson: Replace complaining with appreciating…no excuses! It works like magic. In every instance. When we excuse ourselves from our dreams we open the door to shame, unworthiness, and lower vibration feelings. When we appreciate who we are unconditionally and take responsibility for our course in life we open the door to greatness! We are natures greatest miracle. Excuse me not, I’ll take greatness!

Charles Haanel boldly states in Part Fourteen of The Master Key that “all thought is creative.” Not just some thought…all thought.

What does that statement mean? Haanel goes on to say that if you deny the conditions in your life that you are not happy with that you literally up-root or sap the vitality of those conditions leaving them to wither and die. The opposite then stands to reason that what we put our attention towards and think about more often (and complain about) will persist with us, orgrow (seventh Law of the Mind).

You can see this played out when you’re around Uncle Ned or Aunt Petunia who can’t shut up about all the problems that are in their favor. You just think…”Nothing changes with that man/woman, bad luck seems to follow them everywhere.” They are literally creating the bad luck through their constant watering and nourishing of the very conditions that they are unhappy about.

This got me thinking…what if we are so comfortable in our misery that we don’t want to have those problems go away? Or…what if those conditions we deem unfavorable are actually blessings in disguise would we recognize them and change our habitual complaining about them?

This concept hit me hard.

I’ve been nursing an emotional hurt (brought on from a business partnership breakup) for over four years. It seems to come up every time I make a bold move in my business life. It’s as if I’m reliving the pain of that failure over and over and it feels like I’m paralyzed to take a risk. Is it a self-sabotaging mechanism in order for me to stay in the safe and known world? When I reach outside my comfort zone I feel every anxiety and hear all the unworthy gossip about myself replay in my head.

Time to stop the replay!

I CAN substitute a negative thought for a positive one…my choice (Law of Substitution). I can also CREATE whatever feeling around that failure that I want (Law of Dual Thought). JUICY!

After talking about this life changing business fallout to two separate individuals in the same week, I received some very insightful advice which came in the form of an inquiry…”What have you gained from this experience?”

That question simmered around in my head for a few days.

Then the flood gates gave way and I could no longer hold a container of resentment.

My mind poured out instance after instance of all the opportunities that opened up and have shaped my direction in the last four years. I could see that every workshop, class, seminar, or other business venture that I had either been in or taught in the past four years was a direct result of that fateful business failure. All the friendships and people that I’ve met because of or in spite of this failure count in the 100’s. Tearfully I realize that I would do it all over again in a heartbeat and I’m grateful for that past experience. The thought I had created about that business venture being a failure is NO LONGER THERE. It is replaced with a new thought and feeling…one of deep and sincere gratitude. I’m grateful for the experience. I’m grateful for the failure. I’m grateful for all the growth that I’ve experienced.

You could say that the light has replaced the darkness. I have blossomed into a more soulful, authentic, real version of myself instead of working in a business with someone else’s dream.

I find Haanel’s writings to be very liberating. The idea that I can CREATE the condition around an event that is either out of my control (or perceived to be so) is redemptive. Moreover, the study and practice of training my mind to create the condition and see that it is within my control is freeing. I believe Haanel is DEAD ON with his summation of our power to create conditions. To deny this is to deny responsibility for our fate. It is to say that it does not matter what we do in this life because ultimate reward is out of our control. This is not so. We indeed have more control over our lives than we give ourselves credit for.

The very thought that MY thoughts are the cause of the events that take place in my life has got me thinking…what else is possible?

I’ve always thought of myself as a person possessing a great amount of perseverance…being able to work at something long enough to master it. Persistence, on the other hand, has been a word I’ve associated with nagging willfulness. I haven’t given it the same high marks as perseverance. Given that the past couple of week we’ve been studying persistence in MKMMA, I thought I’d look into the differences and similarities of the two and see what I could come up with.

According to Virtues Project Reflections Cards perseverance is defined as [bold added]…

“The will to carry on. Once we discern our true direction, we stay the course for however long it takes, regardless of obstacles that arise. When creativity inspires us, we do the work required to bring it to fruition. We patiently pursue our goals, remaining steadfast and focused. We persist with a task until it is completed. People can trust us to finish what we start. When our relationships are tested, we have the commitment to work things through. We are determined to succeed.”

WOW! That describes and defines the MKMMA intention exactly! So what then is persistence?

We learned in week 13 that persistence is not a character trait but actually the indoctrination (hard work) of four simple habits into our way of being…

DMP – Defining a direction and life’s purpose. You first need to know the path you wish to pursue or all your efforts will be lost in the shiny penny syndrome…chasing someone else’s dream.

PMA – Practicing daily habits that lead to your life’s purpose. Rendering continuous action without excuses. This to me is the heart and soul of persistence. It is the daily action of taking the next step, without letting excuses derail our decision to follow through.

POA – Service = love = growth. Defined as…putting into action a continuous life-long pursuit of service-oriented actions that inspire others and contribute to planet well-being. The by-product of these actions is spiritual growth, wealth, and happiness.

MMA – Master minding with like-minded individuals on a regular basis. To me this means to associate with those who recognize greatness and acknowledge it in themselves and others. It is also being around people who push you to excel.

I recently watched the movie “Wild”, a true story of a woman named Cheryl Strayed (played by one of my favorite actresses Reese Witherspoon). She makes all the wrong choices after her mother, and best friend, dies suddenly of a fatal disease. She is lost, lonely, and takes out her anger in ways that are harmful spiritually, emotionally, and physically. In her quest to find herself she decides to solo hike the Pacific Crest Trail. A 1,100-mile trek that changes her DNA forever.

The lesson in this movie is the purposeful pursuit to find herself one step at a time. She did not give up…even when fellow trail mates did. She pushed forward, single and a woman in the wild in compromising situations. She relied on her mother’s memory and ideals to keep her on a steady path through rain, snow, dehydration, inadequate gear, and many more trail mishaps.

I believe this movie demonstrates Cheryl’s persistence and perseverance. I was inspired to keep going towards my dreams even though I feel inadequate at times and don’t know how I will get there. What I do know is that one step forward and then another and then another will eventually get me there.

Being in MKMMA is teaching me the true meaning of persistence. To wake up, exercise, eat right, meditate, give service, etc. Every day…without excuses. It takes discipline to be persistent. It takes perseverance, hard work, and 1,000+ mile trail to realize your dreams.

Keep going…persevere in persistence.

“Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there’s love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” ~ Ella Fitzgerald